merryfortune

100ships - #74 Sage

Title: Salvia

Ship: Eirika/Saleh

Fandom: Fire Emblem Sacred Stones

Word Count: 5,462

Rating: M

Warnings: No Warnings Apply

Tags: Post Canon, Period Typical Sexism, Pregnancy, Tokophobia, Menstruation, Period Sex, Cunnilingus, Wedding Night Sex, Pregnancy Sex, Motherhood, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Some Gender Essentialism, Minor or Implied Ephraim/L’Arachel

   Eirika was not afraid of dying on the battlefield.

   In the culture of nobility and bloodshed, there was honour in falling by the blade of a sword. No one pitied the dead who had died so righteously for a grand cause such as war.

   However, she was afraid of dying in her marital bed.

   Like her mother.

   Her mother’s spirit was always talked about so pitifully and it distressed Eirika. She had fought to give birth to twins and the exhaustion had been too much for her yet no one recognised or acknowledged her valiance in wanting her children to be born safely. Her struggles and how the nurses tried to help but ultimately, it had been up to her and her strength. And so, the natural cause that claimed her from life’s toil had been her own children rather than old age like her and her husband’s vows had hoped. The story of her mother’s passing was told every year, before Eirika and Ephraim would celebrate their birthday, reminding them of mortality and gratitude. 

   Instilling a fear in Eirika that Ephraim would not understand his loins were not those of a woman’s - or woman to be. She grew afraid of her own body and the possibilities of it.

   When Eirika had her first bleed as a pubescent child, she was terrified. Distraught. Utterly inconsolable. For hours, Eirika could not be pried away from her bed as she sobbed. Not even Ephraim could get through to her and comfort her. She just wanted to be alone with her misery of mind and body. Her periods thereafter would be of similar outbursts, at least until Eirika learned her own pattern, tracking it meticulously as it solidified and she grew better at managing her symptoms. 

   With more years under her belt and with certain medicines never too far from her, the worst that Eirika felt upon her menstruation was behind her. Nothing more than the silly dramas of a teenage girl. No one, not even Ephraim, likely could have guessed that she still carried such strenuous pains as a young woman. That the blood she shed in private would terrify her more than what she would shed during the war. 

   Yet there was an agony that she hadn’t known in years that was uncorked following the peace. Eirika was wrecked by this condition that she had been handling so well for so long so, she retreated into her room, banishing all from seeing her until she felt better. She felt like a tumultuous child again but there was little she could do against the anxiety and how the cramps riddled her.

   She recalled how she was scolded as a child for being so selfish about her bleeds. She was a child but she was about to become a woman because of it. Many of those who had a monthly bleed were able to retain some capacity of usefulness and strength, expected to go on with their days and weeks. The maids, the servants, the farmers: any occupation at all was named and the expectation remained the same. 

   Eirika hadn’t thought about that scolding in so long but it stung. She hated this selfishness as she curled up in a ball in her bed. She was all but begging to be struck by rapture as she waited out the worst of it. She didn’t want anyone at all to see her, not a soul, and she wasn’t thinking anyone would want to see her, there were no meetings scheduled, no visitations to be made. All in all, it was a good time for her menstruation to come as there was, for once, a lull in all her duties and yet…

   Someone did desire her company and he had come a long, long way for it.

   Thus, Saleh was all but turned away at the door of the Renais castle today. That, he supposed, was quite unusual. He was allowed inside but was not allowed to visit Eirika but he only ever made the journey down the mountain to return Eirika’s visitations.

   “Is the Princess unwell?” Saleh inquired of Ephraim.

   “Ghastly, so.” Ephraim replied. “She hasn’t been this sick since she was a girlthing.” 

   Saleh’s ears pricked up, he folded his arms and he had a good idea now as to what Ephraim was alluding to. “I’m versed with some magic for those more mundane issues, you know, perhaps I ought to have a look at her.”

   “I would rather not.” Ephraim decided.

   “Ah, of course.” Saleh nodded. “If it eases your mind-”

   “I do trust you, Saleh, I have left you many times in my sister’s company alone, but we have more appearances to upkeep with all the gossipers around again. Funny how they thin, and scatter in times of war and return in times of peace.” Ephraim mused.

   “An apt observation…” Saleh murmured, court politics were never going to amuse and yet. “However, Prince, I thought that a good segue, one I wish to make, if you would allow.”

   “Oh, my apologies, speak your peace, Saleh.” Ephraim replied.

   “I was hoping to ask for Eirika’s hand in marriage.” Saleh said.

   Ephraim blinked. Then blushed. “I would miss my sister sorely but I imagine, up on that mountain of yours… You must miss her as well. She just lights up the room, doesn’t she?”

   “She has a gentle joy that I have come to selfishly yearn for.” Saleh admitted in a soft, quiet voice.

   “Well, she is her own woman though I doubt she will be in the mood to discuss such things but I will leave you to it.” Ephraim said and he pat Saleh’s shoulder, an awkward feat given that he was shorter than Saleh.

   “Thank you. It might be wiser to broach the subject at a later date but I will try today, her sickness might reveal true feelings she may not be inclined to voice otherwise.” Saleh considered the possibility.

   “Then I pray that your head remains on your shoulders,” Ephraim joked, “but her room is that way. Just follow the sound of her sobbing or snoring, whatever phase of her bleed she’s ended up in.”

   Saleh broke away from Ephraim and allowed him to continue his duties of royalty. Saleh felt exhausted just watching, the moment Ephraim stepped away from their conversation, Seth hounded him and as did plenty more folk who required his attention and resources. Rebuilding Renais and surrounds whilst noble was in equal measure headache inducing. So, Saleh sought Eirika.

   Eirika heard Saleh come up the hall. Though she did not know it was him at first. She merely heard the sound of his footsteps and that alone managed to irritate her. She had asked that no one disturb her so she could revel in the full of her misery and have her tantrum so a visitor was unwelcome. Though, when said visitor revealed himself as Saleh, her preconceived selfishness was less appealing.

   Saleh knocked politely and introduced himself to the door. From inside, Eirika relented and Saleh came inside. He swallowed a lump in his throat. Eirika’s bedchambers were as large - if not larger - than his abode in Caer Pelyn and he had plans of asking her to give up such opulence after forgoing once already. Saleh steeled himself for the worst as already he could tell Eirika’s mood was uncharacteristically foul.

   Eirika knew she looked a mess. She felt entirely wrecked and so, she glared. Her hair stuck up in funny ways and she forced herself to sit up in her bed, surrounded by piles upon piles of pillows and blankets, and looked like the titular princess from the fairy tale about a pea stashed beneath layers upon layers of bedding.

   “I was not expecting you, Saleh.” Eirika said, grumpy. “Had I known you were coming, I would have behaved. Made myself presentable. You must think me worse than a child.”

   “May I sit on your bedside?” Saleh elected to ask in lieu of validating Eirika’s assumptions.

   “Yes, you may.” Eirika replied.

   Saleh delicately perched himself side-saddle on the edge of Eirika’s bed. His eyes were calm yet calculative. Though not probing, Eirika felt herself studied and that made her uncomfortable. She preened where she sat even though the slightest movement caused more than a mere tremor throughout her body. She was wracked with abdominal pain and just wanted to curl up into a ball and try to sleep the agony off but she persevered like she was expected to do.

   “I had heard you were unwell and your complexion is clammy…” Saleh murmured.

   “Thank you for your assessment, Saleh.” Eirika sarcastically replied and that surprised Saleh.

   “I have some knowledge of white magic, the sorts of spells my Grandmother found useful in these situations, I can ease your burden of pain if that pleases you.” Saleh said despite having been initially taken aback, he did his best not to show it.

   Eirika grimaced, “I haven’t needed another’s assistance in this matter for a long, long time…”

   “It's not like you to reject help, you are usually the first advocate for it.” Saleh mused. “Your bleed truly brings out a side of you that I have never known, I find the shift fascinating-”

   “You know?!” Eirika exclaimed.

   “Yes, your brother-”

   “I’m going to kill him!” Eirika shrieked and she threw a pillow at Saleh.

   He let it smack across his face. “It’s a cycle of nature, it is nothing to be ashamed of.” he pointed out.

   Eirika wailed in anguish but she did eventually let Saleh heal her. His magic was soft and glowing, it didn’t stop the bleeding but it did quell the pain. No longer did Eirika feel as though she were fit to perish from the abdominal pain but she could still feel the flow of blood uncomfortable.

   “Do you feel better?” Saleh asked.

   “I do. Thank you.” Eirika murmured.

   “Then, if you are feeling up to it, there is a matter I wish to discuss with you but if you are not in the right headspace for it, then so be it.” Saleh said.

   “What is the matter then?” Eirika asked. “One that could not be fit for a letter, clearly, one that brought you all the way down the mountain, even.”

   “Indeed.” Saleh thoughtfully nodded his head. He took a breath. “Princess, I desire your hand in marriage.”

   Eirika couldn’t believe what she had heard. She felt some sort of eager joy swirl through her but Saleh’s words remained unreal to her. She had made a lifelong friend in Saleh during the war and though there was much to do with the post-war rebuilding and celebrations, she still sent him letters. She even made the tiresome pilgrimage to Caer Pelyn a handful of time to spend weeks at a time up there. Not necessarily a vacation as Eirika would assist in their daily lives as she could but compared to the hustle and bustle of royal life, it was rather restful.

   Caer Pelyn was a beautiful place. The air was delicious, if frigid. The grass grew in deep, dark greens and the forests were hardy. The people were not outwardly welcoming, furtive and secretive, but Eirika had never been a dire outsider in their midsts as she was a good friend to Saleh, whom she did love with a heart of a serenity.

   If she accepted this proposal - that felt all too soon and yet, some ladies were married and pregnant already at Eirika’s age - then her life would change drastically. Her title as princess would be for naught in the mountains and she would be relinquishing certain luxuries that she had longed for during the war, living rough.

   Saleh took a breath, “This was too soon to spring on someone ill, I should have waited.” he hastily apologised.

   Eirika’s heart began to break. Fracture. She inhaled sharply and her expression became a teary grimace.

   “It is a lot to take in, at once.” Eirika lamented. “It is not that I am not interested, or that I don’t love you, I just- I am merely unwell. Shaken by this revelation.”

   Saleh inched closer to Eirika and he caressed her face. His hands were cold but his eyes were warm.

   “I will take care of you.” Saleh affirmed her. “If you are worried you will be a burden or otherwise unfit to living with me in Caer Pelyn, I will take care of you and it would be my most sublime joy because the Princess that I know, she doesn’t back away from a challenge. She gives herself away until she is in pieces and when that happens, she appreciates my counsel to put herself back together again.”

   Eirika began to flounder. She wanted to tell Saleh of her fears, of her anxieties, of how her mother had perished but she found herself unable. The words were damming and clogging in her mouth. Her lips were feebly parted but she was ultimately unable to bring herself to say anything at all. 

   Yet Saleh suspected that he knew what Eirika was failing to communicate, he kissed her lips and she meagrely kissed back. Eirika closed her eyes to this sudden kiss and her heartbeat felt frantic in her chest. 

   “I will take care of you body and soul, Princess, if you so let me.” Saleh whispered to Eirika and he placed his hand on her thigh.

   Eirika understood what Saleh was insinuating as he undressed the sheets and blankets off her body but she was hesitant to shift her legs, so Saleh parted them for her. She felt her guts twist and knot, with cramps and anxiety but she let it happen. Her heart pounded and she squirmed as she sat on her bed, pillows propped up behind her and she bled.

   And Saleh licked. Eirika gasped, her exclamation palpable to Saleh as he continued. He was clinical as he assessed her wound, kissing it and delving forth his tongue, pleasuring Eirika in ways she could not have fathomed previously. With his mouth alone, Saleh brought Eirika to climax and when he looked up at her, blood on his lips, that sealed their claim.

   The following day, Eirika would publicly agree to Saleh’s hand in marriage. Her fears quelled. Though, she had no other choice now, Saleh had spirited away her virginity and as an honourable man, he would not further disgrace Eirika but none but they would ever need to know such salacious details. Thus, their marriage was approved and Ephraim entrusted his dear sister to the sage from the mountains. An unusual pair but Ephraim could see the serenity that Saleh brought Eirika. He appreciated that.

  Later, in private, they kissed and Eirika could swear she still tasted blood - her blood - on Saleh’s lips. Yet, she didn’t mind that phantom taste.

   The preparations for their marriage in the months ensuing were difficult but a welcome to change the drearier affairs that had to be arranged for. Saleh, on behalf of all Caer Pelyn, was gifted a very handsome dowry from Ephraim per the custom and Eirika, meanwhile, got to plan her own wedding.

   She had never dreamed thoroughly of what her wedding would be like and given that she was not marrying further into royalty or aristocracy, grandiosity felt ill advised. Thus, the resulting ceremony was quiet and held outside with only their closest inner circle in attendance. Ephraim gave Eirika away, walking her down the aisle in their mother’s dress: the only display of true opulence at this event in which Eirika and Saleh’s rites were read and vowed.

   Eirika felt her stomach turn as she said her prayers and kissed Saleh. Growing up with only her father, she had never seen the dynamic of husband and wife modelled, not that she was expecting a usual such dialogue with a husband like Saleh but still. Perhaps it would have quelled the anxieties she felt, especially knowing beneath her mother’s beautiful and regal wedding dress, she was wearing lingerie. 

   Lingerie that Saleh would later discover when he disrobed Eirika in their private, honeymoon suite with the intention of consummating their marriage. He disrobed her gently, pulled away all the layers and lace and ate her out once more. Eirika came over and over again with Saleh’s tongue in her womanhood. He came, too, inside of her.

   Despite being reserved individuals, they were not immune to that honeymoon phase, apparently. Hands all over each other from Castle Renais to Caer Pelyn. When they finally arrived at Saleh’s abode, there was not a room that Eirika did not become accustomed to.

   Saleh’s home was now Eirika’s home and so, she decorated it a bit more to her liking, adding planter boxes to the windows and bringing a few heirlooms from home, heraldic tea sets and the like. Saleh didn’t mind at all, he loved how the red and gold of Eirika’s trinkets brightened up his home and he always had a soft spot for flowers and now, on his dinner table, there were fresh flowers weekly in a vase.

   At that dinner table, they ate exceptionally well, all things considered. Eirika was a good cook and the produce that she bought and collected from the market was some of the most fresh and delicious that she ever had the privilege of working with. As for the meals Saleh made, they were well kept recipes that his grandmother’s great grandmother and beyond had passed down and so, were well worked and homey, always warming Eirika’s belly regardless of mist, shine, or rain.

   Their marital life was truly bliss thus far. There was nothing Eirika could possibly want for as she merged more and more with the folk of Caer Pelyn, befriending the locals who accepted her warmly. Yes, she missed her brother once in a while but she knew that he would visit eventually, in a few more months time and if he didn’t, she would give him very good reason to make the ascent.

   As Eirika was dutiful in tracking her monthly bleeds, it didn’t escape her notice when she missed one. And then two. The dizziness that she was experiencing was also worrisome, as was the nausea. The signs were beginning to mount and as were her anxieties. So, she sought her dear grandmother-in-law who welcomed her into her place of work and residence warmly as she usually did.

   There was a knowing look in her eyes as she allowed Eirika inside. She closed the door behind Eirika and took her by the hand, leading her to a bed where she could sit.

   “You know why I’m here, don’t you?” Eirika asked in a small voice.

   “Aye, that I do, that I do.” Dara replied.

   Eirika smiled a small smile. That was an odd comfort. The wordlessness that followed was thankfully non-invasive and soon enough, by her measure, Dara had the answer that Eirika was expecting: she was pregnant with her and Saleh’s first child.

   But her demeanour learning such news was grave. Solemn. Dara had thought that such a kind-hearted soul as Eirika would be overjoyed with the news. Instead, she sat as though she were a flower claimed by an icy frost. She was just frozen.

   “Are you okay, my dear?” Dara asked.

   Eirika hugged herself, specifically around her middle where her child gestated. She shook her head.

   “I am many things but not a mind reader…” Dara murmured as she sat with Eirika and caressed her face, wiping away a lone, dewy tear that threatened to spill out and over her cheek.

   “I lost my mother to childbirth.” Eirika revealed. “What if I am meant for the same fate?”

   “I have seen many women through their births and have never lost any of them, I will guide you through that endeavour as well and I will not lose you either, I promise.” Dara said and she took Eirika’s hand to examine it. The feeling of Dara’s fingers stroking Eirika’s palm was comforting, she hazarded a smile. “You have a long lifeline, you will live to see your children’s children, I can assure it. You have a warrior’s spirit and I’m sure your mother did as well.”

   “I’m still terrified, Grandmother, but thank you. I trust your words above all else. I shall live and I shall be a good mother.” Eirika decided for herself, even if her fears made her fingers tremble.

   “Good.” Dara agreed. “Now go and share this with Saleh, he will be your rock going forward. I have no doubt you will both make wonderful parents.”

   Eirika hiccuped, swallowing a sob. Grief and terror was miraculously giving way to the beauty of life. New life. She was going to do it: she was going to be a mother. Her heart raced. She rubbed away a tear and smiled through the sheen.

   “He’s always been my rock. My breath of fresh air, I have never doubted his propensity for fatherhood, unlike with myself and these anxieties I’ve always carried regarding motherhood.” Eirika half-spoke and half-cried.

   Dara caressed her face again, “If you ever need to talk, I can listen and give counsel as you please.”

   “Thank you, Grandmother.” Eirika replied and she leaned into Dara, her forehead pressing gently against Dara’s.

   With a nasally breath, Eirika collected herself and bade Dara farewell. Eirika kept her head up and her heart was heavy yet refreshed with strengths she didn’t know she possessed. Or perhaps had never had until now. Eirika returned to her home where Saleh was waiting for her with a basket of freshly picked herbs that he found growing in the mountains.

   Saleh welcomed her home with a kiss in the middle of her forehead. He held her hands and they had a conversation at their dinner table. It was like he already knew, before Eirika could even tell him and honestly, Eirika appreciated how he was able to read her, predict her. 

   “I know.” Saleh told her, his voice was low and soothing.

   “You're going to be… We’re going to be parents.” Eirika’s voice was giddy and frantic, she was afraid all the same as she was happy.

   “You will be a wonderful mother, my Princess, and I will do my best to support you through this phase.” Saleh assured her.

   “Thank you, Saleh, I would be nothing without your guidance and support, I swear.” Eirika replied, outpouring with gratitude and hormones and teardrops, as well.

   Saleh reached across the table and caressed Eirika’s face, wiping away her tears. They were soft and warm, she nuzzled into the palm of his hand, feeling the eb and flow of the sagely magic that he possessed and sighed. She felt calm and secure in her husband the love and honour he had unto her. 

   For once, she felt entirely confident about her role as a woman to become fodder to foster more children for the glory and reign of her royal status. As her brother was unwed as of the present, the child in her belly was the technical heir to the Renais throne and that amused her greatly, she would admit. But she did wonder if her brother had a future wife in mind, if at all.

   Sending him news of her pregnancy did confirm to Eirika that her brother had a plan and one that involved L’Arachel of all ladies but there were a few obstacles to her hand, least of all Dozla, let alone Rausten bureaucracy but the news did excite him. He sent back gifts for the baby, seeming rather certain that Eirika would bear a boy as the clothes that he had, allegedly, picked on a whim were quite masculine or androgynous at best but the main thing was that Ephraim was very, very enthused about being an uncle. He desired to visit on the shortest notice possible and Eirika looked forward to it.

   She did not, however, look forward to the more unglamourous aspects of her pregnancy. Sharing the news was wonderful, the nausea and so forth not quite so but regular visits to Dara kept the anxieties that were like festering devils away. Much like her grandson, she, too, had much wisdom to share if not more so given how old she was.

   “Would it be disrespectful to Nada Kuya if I had a daughter and named her in reference to the princess of legend?” Eirika asked over tea one morning at one of her visits with Dara.

   “In reference, no, but invoking the spirits can have great consequence. If the child does not live to the name, more than the living suffers.” Dara explained.

   “Oh, I didn’t realise, I shouldn’t have assumed-” Eirika rambled.

   “You couldn’t have known our quirks, I’m sure it is very common practice amongst your own kin to reuse names.” Dara replied understandingly. “For example, I was named for an ancestor named Sara.”

   “Oh, I see.” Eirika replied. “So, for example, if I had a boy and Saleh agreed, if I wanted to honour the spirit of my Father and his values, hoping our child would grow into such nobility, then Frederick, or Fred for short and even Freddo as a pet name, might be more fitting than simply Fado?”

   “Correct.” Dara nodded her head.

   “I understand better now, thank you, Grandmother.” Eirika said but Dara could already hear the next query in Eirika’s voice. “Are there any more things I may not yet know about Caer Pelyn and its people? Its culture?”

   “A few, more likely than not.” Dara told her.

   “I’d be happy to be educated then.” Eirika replied, enthusiasm making her features seem jolly.

   Dara smiled and shared a few legends that Eirika had not yet heard from Saleh or any of her friends in the village. Eirika listened eagerly, with her hand on her belly.  Already, it had grown some in just her first trimester alone and it only continued to grow.

   Eirika listened to Dara’s advice and all her lore. Though some of the stories that she shared harrowed Eirika, others only stoked her conviction to be a good mother and to survive the ordeal of her childbirth. Dara was pleased to cultivate more and more of Eirika’s confidence, weaning her off the myths and misinformation that she held so tightly onto in her fears.

   As time went by, Eirika’s belly had grown more so. Her belly-button had popped her embarrassment but Saleh found it oddly cute. Her hips widened and were painted with pink stretch marks. She found herself tiring more easily but nothing lifted Eirika’s spirits quite like having visitors.

    By the time her brother could escape the castle, with his bride to be in tow, no less, Eirika was on the cusp of her third trimester and was beginning to look huge. Ephraim was still delighted to see her and more delighted still to witness the movements and kicking of her small child that she gestated. L’Arachel was thrilled as well and brought so many gifts from Rausten, Eirika was running out of places to stow them and unlike Ephraim, she was convinced that Eirika was going to have a girl.

   Eirika was scared that they would both be right in the end. The possibility of twins did loom and it was a possibility that frightened her deeply. Whilst she cherished the memories of growing up with Ephraim, a true and forever friend she could never be fully parted from, the idea of her labour being complicated by that did harrow her. After all, it was exactly that unexpected complication that had weakened her mother before ultimately claiming her.

   For these fears, Eirika talked them through with Ephraim and he had the utmost trust in Dara and the other wise women who would take care of Eirika through her labour. Even if he was far, Eirika was in his thoughts and he knew, like flint striking a rock makes fire, that she would not meet the same fate as their mother. As for if she had twins, Ephraim wasn’t so sure but he hoped that if she did that they would have a similar bond to them and Eirika agreed, consoled.

   Renais Castle - and also Rausten - beckoned Ephraim and L’Arachel home. Eirika bade them a bittersweet goodbye, knowing that her child would be born and several months old before they would be reunited again. The notion of it made Eirika quake in her boots but Saleh held her hand firmly. A time for them to joyous and excited was upon them or would be soon enough, he reminded her through her fears.

   A reminder that could not be more timely. A month after the visit from Ephraim and L’Arachel, Eirika’s water broke on the night of the winter equinox.

   Even though she and Saleh had a solid plan for what to do in that emergency, the panic unique to firsttime parents possessed them and any strategy and tactical knowledge they had was abandoned to the winds. Fortunately, they managed to get Eirika comfortable in her bed and Saleh was able to go fetch Dara and the other women who were trained in these endeavours.

   Those moments without Saleh by her side were the most terrifying that Eirika had ever experienced and she had been on the brink of war and collapse and even death itself. But she felt oddly strong as she managed those initial contraptions, muttering prayers for the swiftness of her husband and Dara’s return.

   Saleh’s house had always been quiet, at least before he boarded Ewan and then it became lively with the apprentice’s mistakes and mishaps and misadventures. Yet schooling a boy in magic was completely different to how loud and noisy his abode became as it became host to midwives and wise women and, of course a soon to be born screaming bundle of joy. Saleh could only wait upon the results as he entrusted his wife and mother of his first child to his grandmother.

   Eirika squeezed Dara’s hand. Her heart raced and she was terrified yet had never felt stronger as she went through the motions of this herculean feat known as childbirth. Her body was wracked with an agony the likes of which she had never known and was going to hesitate to want again but Dara kept her calm using a combination of magic and consoling words.

   By nothing less than a miracle in Eirika’s opinion, she survived and she had safely given birth to her firstborn child. Her baby which screamed and howled and was whisked away for a bath whilst she remained, open legged and empty. 

   She watched as Dara bathed her baby and uttered sacred prayers, asking the spirits to ensure a happy, healthy baby and Eirika could only smile, exhausted. She was floating in a dream, a bloody dream but a dream nonetheless, when her baby was returned to her and her husband was permitted once more into the room brimming with women’s business.

   “Congratulations, my dear, you have gifted myself and the world a little baby girl.” Dara said and there were winks of tears in her ancient eyes. “I have a great-granddaughter now, thank you.”

   Eirika hugged her baby girl tightly, nuzzling her face against her baby who wailed and whinged that she was hungry and cranky from just being born. She smiled, not caring at all for the racket.

   “Thank you, Grandmother.” Eirika replied, relieved.

   Saleh entered the room whilst Eirika allow her baby to latch onto her breast to suckle. He smiled and on the way, he hugged and kissed his grandmother who was elated with the joy and safety of this delivery.

   “Saleh,” Eirika murmured, “we have a daughter now.” She couldn’t have sounded happier as her daughter drank of her milk for the first time.

   Saleh looked at the baby who shied away from him in favour of sating her needs. He smiled gently, admiring the dark tufts of steely blue hair. He couldn’t help but see a lot of Caer Pelyn in this child, more than the appearance of Renais. That did make his expression hint with pride.

   “She’s beautiful.” Saleh replied at long last, bowing down so he could kiss Eirika’s temple, she was dishevelled and sweaty yet she had never radiated more beauty to him than right now. “Do you have a name in mind?”

   “I do.” Eirika replied. “If it is alright with you, I would like to name her Nadia.”

   Hope, Saleh realised but something more, too, he thought, evocative of the spirit of Nada Kuya. He smiled as wide a smile as he ever does, perhaps wider.

   “Nadia is a perfect name for our child.” he agreed as his daughter babbled, satisfied that she was no longer hungry - or nameless, apparently.